PET Day? No Thanks

Well, more cheap political grasping by the current inept, corrupt, bumbling liberals. But I will say this- Pierre Elliot Trudeau was arguably our best PM ever. Not sure we should have a PET day, but in our own way, let`s celebrate this altruistic, forward thinking man!

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Dave Ruston

"But I will say this- Pierre Elliot Trudeau was arguably our best PM ever."

I'm glad you say "arguably", because I would certainly argue with you on that assertion. The man bullied the provinces, simultaneously alienated both Quebecers and Westerners, shoved wasteful and divisive social engineering programs down our throats, and ran up debts that would only be rivalled by Mulroney. His disdain for Western Canada was matched only by that of his little thug sidekick, Jean Chretien. He may have sought to keep the state out of our bedrooms, but he stuck it into every other room of our houses. He antagonized the US and heaped praise on Marxist dictators.

I salute him for the Charter of Rights, but even that admittedly grand achievement is marred the unforgivable omission of property rights.

He didn't bring Canadians together. He merely divided and conquered us, like Liberals always do.

Yes, I thought you would certainly disagree. That`s OK, though. Antagonize the US? More like stand up to them! Seeing that Washington assumes Canada is nothing more than their resource hinterland- 51st state, I wish we had more politicians stand up to the US! Debt? Well, Mulroney more than rivalled that- he blasted way past it- and by doing much less progressively for the country, I might say. Actually, Trudeau`s debt was caused by Nixon abandoning the gold standard, forcing countries, especially Canada, to assume huge amounts of US war debt, given we were/are their biggest trading partner. Social programs are alright with me. Done right, they are great equalizers. State intervention into the market can only reduce the amount of people that get injured by ruthless oligarch fixed market forces. Alienated the west? I don`t think so. The National Energy Program would have eliminated Canada`s Nixon debt if it was given more time to work. But unfortunately, Albertans panicked by the withdrawal of oil companies, which were nothing more than scare tactics. The US needs Canadian oil- these companies would have come back! Look today- history repeating itself, only a provincial premier by the name of Stelmach is facing thwe same 'Oh my Gawd, your demand for more roylties will scare away the oil companies and eliminate jobs.' Nonsense! Look at Norway and Venezuela. Those countries have much higher royalty rates than what Stelmach is asking for, but you don`t see oil companies running away from either of those countries. The US still takes Venezuelan oil, even though Chavez, in Bush`s little mind, is Stalino. But yes, Chretien, I can certainly do without! Praise Marxist leaders- was it praise, or just keeping an open mind? While the western media villified Castro, Trudeau would say," Why do his people seem to like him so much?" And Trudeau did try to unite Canadians, but I feel his efforts were always undermined by the power brokers who pulled the strings of provincial governments and the media. I could go on and on. I believe Trudeau, although certainly not perfect, blows `em all away. If Trudeau wasn`t Canadian, he`d be recognized as one of the great political minds of the 20th century.

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Dave Ruston

"Yes, I thought you would certainly disagree. That`s OK, though."

I'm glad to hear you say that. I too can respectfully disagree. Unless you try to call me "un-Canadian" for my beliefs, our disagreements can continue to be respectful.

To clarify though, when I refer to "social engineering" programs, I'm not referring to the welfare state as such, but rather programs in which the government hubristically tries to shape the thinking of the people it should instead be serving. It is abuse of power in a democracy to use tax dollars to try to change how the people who vote for you think and live their lives.

That's what I think of programs like official biligualism and multiculturalism. Where bilingualism and multiculturalism occur natually, I'm all for it. I just don't like government coercion and the conflict of interest inherent in an elected government trying to influence the beliefs and values of the electorate.

At best, it can be an arrogant majority attempting to crush dissent. At worst, it is an even more arrogant intellectual/political elite trying to impose their will on the masses.

I just had to resection this to humour. While there are those that find favour with some Prime Ministers, (PET being the first worthy of assassination) I don't think any are particularally worthy enough to merit their own holiday.

Mr. Trudeau seems to have become a much more loved PM since his death. I guess we didn't know what we had in him, until presented with the current options.

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I guess in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, they would not celebrate. That's where PET give them the finger.